The art of linen damask weaving in Britain dates to the seventeenth century. It was prized by royalty and aristocracy for the breadth of elaborate patterns it afforded – armorial bearings, royal cyphers, historic commemorative events and heraldic designs. In 1737 George II turned to Irish linen domestic weavers to provide napery for his household, foregoing European providers who to that point had dominated the market. From this time on, the British crown only ordered from British manufactories.
In France, in 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard perfected a semi-automatic mechanism for silk damask weaving, replacing the highly labour-intensive draw loom. It was soon adapted for linen damask weaving, reaching Britain by the 1820s.
In the 1850s, with the introduction of power loom weaving, linen damask weaving became fully automated, theoretically ending Jacquard linen damask weaving at a stroke. However, the power loom struggled to match its fineness, quality and soft handle.
With the closure of the last damask handloom factory in Lurgan in the late 1960s, the centuries-old Irish commercial handloom damask trade came to an end. The craft was kept alive at the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra, where John McAtasney, colloquially known as the ‘last handloom weaving’ demonstrated his trade from 1968-78.
Lisburn, Northern Ireland, had been at the centre of the damask trade since the mid-18 th century and was home to the world-famous Coulson damask manufactory. The firm, and offshoots, produced linen napery and tableware for the kings and queens of Europe, and tsars of Russia. Brian Mackey, curator of the newly-established Lisburn Museum, invited John McAtasney to demonstrate at the new museum on a part-time basis in 1982. John later became a full-time weaver and established a weaving programme as the museum expanded and added the Irish Linen Centre in 1994. John assembled a new damask loom in the museum’s galleries, and took on a Jacquard card cutter, Tommy Donnelly, and two apprentice weavers, Deborah White and Alison McNamee, in 1996.
Lisburn Museum has invested almost 40 years into the craft of handwoven damask and is the only venue on the island of Ireland where visitors can view damask weaving daily. The museum holds the largest collection of Irish linen damask designs – from point papers to photographic plates – and cloths in the world. With the restoration of Ireland’s sole surviving linen damask broadloom nearing completion, a new chapter opens for the craft. For the first time in 57 years, linen damask tablecloths will again be woven by hand in Ireland.
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Irish Linen Centre / Lisburn Museum employ two master weavers. However, there are no training schemes. Deborah White worked alongside one of the last traditional damask handloom weavers in Ireland and says it takes 5-7 years apprenticeship to master the trade.
Deborah White was awarded an AHRC / NBC Scholarship in September 2020 with Ulster University; PhD Topic: An Empirical Study of Hand loom Jacquard Design and Production in Ireland. White worked alongside one of the last traditional Damask hand- loom weavers in Ireland, from 1994-1999, after graduating from Ulster with a BA (hons) in Woven and Constructed Textile Design. Recent awards such as HCA’s Endangered Craft Award (2019), The Textile Society’s Professional Development Award (2019), and The Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers Award (2019), have helped secure an independent practise.
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